1. Field of Art
The disclosure generally relates to the field of increasing an availability of telephone numbers in public switched telephone network (PSTN) and data network systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
A telephone number or phone number is a digit sequence used to make a call in a PSTN. A phone number in North America, for example, consists of a three-digit area code followed by a seven-digit local number. With the explosive increase in the number of mobile phones and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers and subscribers, phone numbers available to users are decreasing, especially in metropolitan areas.
One conventional way to increase a pool of available telephone numbers is through sharing numbers in a multiline telephone system. Multiline telephone systems are used in business environments. Multiline telephone systems use a telephone line associated with a limited set of numbers, e.g., 1 or 2, but provide access from multiple telephones, or “stations”, in the system. Business telephone systems configured in this manner are “key systems” and “private branch exchanges.”
One problem with conventional sharing systems, such as business telephone systems, is that users of the system are only associated with a local exchange telephone number that is specific to the multiline system. Hence, users themselves do not have the flexibility to be associated with other telephone numbers, for example, telephone numbers outside the local exchange of what is assigned to that telephone line.
Another problem with conventional systems that share numbers is specific users are not assigned specific numbers for purposes of identification from outside of the system. This is particularly challenging for those looking to have caller identification (“caller ID”) functionality. Caller ID is a conventional telephone service that displays the caller's number at the telephone or an attached device, so that the called party can easily returns the call. With the caller ID service, the information of the calling number is transmitted from the calling party to the called party over PSTN for a voice call or over data network for a VoIP call. In the conventional caller ID service, the caller has no control over the calling number transferred to the called party over the network.